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Originally Posted by zeek
I don't know if anybody is reading this thread besides you and me.
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Tracking the views reveals some are. I don't get it. LCer's and exLCer's are very familiar with seeing most of Christianity as poor. We got lots of that in the LC. I still see it that way.
That's why I'm interested in this thread. I too would like to know when and where it went south.
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Originally Posted by z
The question is why Christian's were seduced away from the simple teachings of Jesus to create the corrupt institution that Lee alleged was "Christianity.
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Not only did the disciples fail to "get" (grok) Jesus, after Jesus left lots of others had difficulty getting Jesus. Conflicting groups cropped up quickly. By Paul's time they were already present.
Things had to be explained. Jesus' baptism for one thing. And how about that body that could walk thru walls, and disguise itself so that even those that were close to him couldn't recognize him? What about that body? Was it just a phantom, a seeming? And what about the kingdom? What happened to that? The Romans still ruled the holy land.
So very early on there were differences of opinions about Jesus springing up. Which one was the Christianity that Jesus taught and practiced? Those that weren't took Christianity south. And reactions against them didn't help either.
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Originally Posted by z
I figured that all people that were ever involved in the Lord's recovery must have supposed that something like that happened.
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Well most protestants would agree that something like that happened at Constantine. He certainly made profound and lasting changes to Christianity, and even the scriptures ... with the force of law I might add.
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Originally Posted by z
Apostasy was a word we used to refer to it. And we believed that God himself is going to restore the church back to its original state or, perhaps even a better state. In that sense the Lord's recovery was part of the larger Christian restoration movement.
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If only we can get the church back to its early pristine state, God will pour out the same blessings He poured out at Pentecost ... and oh, Jesus will come back. It all depends upon us.
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Originally Posted by z
So obviously it's a vast and controversial subject about which there is no agreement among Christians generally. I've been pursuing the hypothesis that Hellenism which is sometimes blamed for the apostasy was actually an influence from the beginning possibly even on Jesus himself. I'm investigating the historical evidence. But I admit it isn't a conclusively proven theory and I haven't insisted that anybody accept it as a condition in order to participate on this thread. I welcome all points of view.
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The Christianity we have today is based upon Hellenistic methods and schools. Even our canon was formed using Hellenistic methods of classification. Because of prophet Montanus, and his new revelations from the Holy Spirit, Eusebius and the bishops wouldn't use "inspiration" to determine the books of our canon. Lots weren't even used, like how the disciple was selected to replace Judas (Acts 1:26).